I actually made it to San Diego.  After a rough start.  I missed the boat (literally) and had to switch jobs – staying on shore.  Of course it wound up being a week of nothing but waiting, with the events finally getting cancelled late Friday night.  I was there until Monday night for other work, so I got a full week in San Diego, for about 2 hours of real work.  Which makes an expensive trip.

But I had fun – it was nice to get to know some of the people I work with better.

Things I did:
– Walked the 2 miles up to Balboa park and enjoyed some peace and quiet
– Went to an amusement park (definitely something to do again).
– Went on a long hike and nearly lost Steve up the long long hill (on the Fortuna Saddle Trail in the Mission Trails Regional Park).
– Ate at lots of great restaurants (and not just the Gaslamp Tavern – though I visited there a lot – Bob and Charlie seem to live there).
– Had breakfast nearly every day at the Brickyard Cafe (Sarah convinced me one morning to go to Lions Coffee and Steve another to Fields – which was the biggest breakfast I ever ate).
– Went to a dueling piano bar.
– Talked a lot (something I do when I drink).
– Toured Old Town.
– Actually met a useful security guard on a Navy Base (first time for everything).
– Actually did some work (I did really work at least parts of two of the days).

Quote of the trip (but not the story of the trip – that is Bob’s alone):

me: Ryan, I’m on my way to pick you up; Sarah and Michele decided to come along to see the base.

Ryan: What the f*&k, have they never seen a pier before.

Anyway, more stories later (I think).  Here are some pictures of the trip

The first part of the hike was down to the old Mission Dam.

The trip seemed to be planned out. All I needed to do was change my return flight once I arrived in Dan Diego. Not expected to be a problem.

Of course, that isn’t how it turned out. I wasn’t able to leave the house early enough to visit Jim. He has been in the hospital for 3 weeks now, and is finally feeling up for visitors. But no worries, we can get together for lunch sometime.

So, Sunday at lunch I drove to T.F. Green airport for a 2pm flight. No problems there. However, we boarded late, waiting for the first officer to arrive. They thought they had one and we were all inboard ready to leave 40 minutes late. Of course, when the replacement first officer arrived, he wasn’t eligible to fly. Do the flight was cancelled. No chance of getting to San Diego on Sunday night.

No problems, I didn’t have to meet the submarine until 5pm on Monday. United booked me on a Delta flight leaving at 6am Monday morning. Plenty of time. I should have checked Delta before I left.

I drove home and woke up at 3am to catch the flight. When I got to the airport, there was no reservation at Delta for me. United had screwed up and didn’t make the reservation.

So, back to the United counter. I was standby to Dulles. Made it to Dulles. Standby to San Diego. No go to San Diego. The flight was well overbooked.

So I’m here in Dulles. I arrived at 7:30 and will catch a 2:30 flight out of here. Oh well. I miss the boat (literally), but Ryan will cover the ride for me. Of course the target has material problems, so it may not happen at all.

A picture of the wildlife in the Dulles airport.